any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness, or activity.
2.
a thought, conception, or notion: That is an excellent idea.
3.
an impression: He gave me a general idea of how he plans to run the department.
4.
an opinion, view, or belief: His ideas on raising children are certainly strange.
5.
a plan of action; an intention: the idea of becoming an engineer.
6.
a groundless supposition; fantasy.
7.
Philosophy.
a.
a concept developed by the mind.
b.
a conception of what is desirable or ought to be; ideal.
c.
(initial capital letter) Platonism. Also called form.an archetype or pattern of which the individual objects in any natural class are imperfect copies and from which they derive their being.
[Origin: 1400–50; < LL < Gk idéā form, pattern, equiv. to ide- (s. of ideǐn to see) + -ā fem. n. ending; r. late ME idee < MF < LL, as above; akin to wit1]
—Related forms
i·de·a·less, adjective
—Synonyms 1, 2.Idea,thought,conception,notion refer to a product of mental activity. Idea, although it may refer to thoughts of any degree of seriousness or triviality, is commonly used for mental concepts considered more important or elaborate: We pondered the idea of the fourth dimension. The idea of his arrival frightened me. Thought, which reflects its primary emphasis on the mental process, may denote any concept except the more weighty and elaborate ones: I welcomed his thoughts on the subject. A thought came to him. Conception suggests a thought that seems complete, individual, recent, or somewhat intricate: The architect's conception delighted them. Notion suggests a fleeting, vague, or imperfect thought: a bare notion of how to proceed. 4. sentiment, judgment.
Something, such as a thought or conception, that potentially or actually exists in the mind as a product of mental activity.
An opinion, conviction, or principle: has some strange political ideas.
A plan, scheme, or method.
The gist of a specific situation; significance: The idea is to finish the project under budget.
A notion; a fancy.
Music A theme or motif.
Philosophy
In the philosophy of Plato, an archetype of which a corresponding being in phenomenal reality is an imperfect replica.
In the philosophy of Kant, a concept of reason that is transcendent but nonempirical.
In the philosophy of Hegel, absolute truth; the complete and ultimate product of reason.
Obsolete A mental image of something remembered.
[Middle English, from Latin, from Greek; see weid- in Indo-European roots.]
i·de'a·less adj.
Synonyms: These nouns refer to what is formed or represented in the mind as the product of mental activity. Idea has the widest range: "Human history is in essence a history of ideas" (H.G. Wells).
Thought is distinctively intellectual and stresses contemplation and reasoning: "Language is the dress of thought" (Samuel Johnson).
Notion often refers to a vague, general, or even fanciful idea: "She certainly has some notion of drawing" (Rudyard Kipling).
Concept and conception are applied to mental formulations on a broad scale: You seem to have absolutely no concept of time."Every succeeding scientific discovery makes greater nonsense of old-time conceptions of sovereignty" (Anthony Eden).
1430, "figure, image, symbol," from L. idea "idea," and in Platonic philosophy "archetype," from Gk. idea "ideal prototype," lit. "look, form," from idein "to see," from PIE *wid-es-ya-, suffixed form of base *weid- "to see" (see vision). Sense of "result of thinking" first recorded 1645.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about; "it was not a good idea"; "the thought never entered my mind"
2.
your intention; what you intend to do; "he had in mind to see his old teacher"; "the idea of the game is to capture all the pieces" [syn: mind]
3.
a personal view; "he has an idea that we don't like him"
4.
an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth; "an estimate of what it would cost"; "a rough idea how long it would take" [syn: estimate]
5.
(music) melodic subject of a musical composition; "the theme is announced in the first measures"; "the accompanist picked up the idea and elaborated it" [syn: theme]
Main Entry: idea Pronunciation: I-'dE-&, 'Id-(")E-& Function: noun 1: an entity (as a thought, concept, sensation, or image) actually or
potentially present to consciousness 2: a formulated thought or opinion
I*de"a\, n.; pl. Ideas. [L. idea, Gr. ?, fr. ? to see; akin to E. wit: cf. F. id['e]e. See Wit.]1. The transcript, image, or picture of a visible object, that is formed by the mind; also, a similar image of any object whatever, whether sensible or spiritual. Her sweet idea wandered through his thoughts. --Fairfax. Being the right idea of your father Both in your form and nobleness of mind. --Shak. This representation or likeness of the object being transmitted from thence [the senses] to the imagination, and lodged there for the view and observation of the pure intellect, is aptly and properly called its idea. --P. Browne. 2. A general notion, or a conception formed by generalization. Alice had not the slightest idea what latitude was. --L. Caroll. 3. Hence: Any object apprehended, conceived, or thought of, by the mind; a notion, conception, or thought; the real object that is conceived or thought of. Whatsoever the mind perceives in itself, or as the immediate object of perception, thought, or undersanding, that I call idea. --Locke. 4. A belief, option, or doctrine; a characteristic or controlling principle; as, an essential idea; the idea of development. That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one. --Johnson. What is now "idea" for us? How infinite the fall of this word, since the time where Milton sang of the Creator contemplating his newly-created world, - "how it showed . . . Answering his great idea," - to its present use, when this person "has an idea that the train has started," and the other "had no idea that the dinner would be so bad!" --Trench. 5. A plan or purpose of action; intention; design. I shortly afterwards set off for that capital, with an idea of undertaking while there the translation of the work. --W. Irving. 6. A rational conception; the complete conception of an object when thought of in all its essential elements or constituents; the necessary metaphysical or constituent attributes and relations, when conceived in the abstract. 7. A fiction object or picture created by the imagination; the same when proposed as a pattern to be copied, or a standard to be reached; one of the archetypes or patterns of created things, conceived by the Platonists to have excited objectively from eternity in the mind of the Deity. Thence to behold this new-created world, The addition of his empire, how it showed In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair, Answering his great idea. --Milton. Note: "In England, Locke may be said to have been the first who naturalized the term in its Cartesian universality. When, in common language, employed by Milton and Dryden, after Descartes, as before him by Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Hooker, etc., the meaning is Platonic." --Sir W. Hamilton. Abstract idea, Association of ideas, etc. See under Abstract, Association, etc. Syn: Notion; conception; thought; sentiment; fancy; image; perception; impression; opinion; belief; observation; judgment; consideration; view; design; intention; purpose; plan; model; pattern. There is scarcely any other word which is subjected to such abusive treatment as is the word idea, in the very general and indiscriminative way in which it is employed, as it is used variously to signify almost any act, state, or content of thought.
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